Blade stabilizers are useful in the drilling of inclined wells to control the inclination of drilling. Blade stabilizers are used connected into the drill string at a considerable distance below the earth surface, spaced above the drill bit. In order to install stabilizers in a drill string, or to modify their locations during drilling, it is necessary to withdraw the drill string from the well and to place the blade stabilizers where needed in the string, and then to rerun the drill string into the well. This is a very time consuming and expensive procedure. This invention seeks to provide blade stabilizer apparatus and methods by which the plural stabilizers may be connected into the drill string to be run into the hole with the drill string, and then actuated to be expanded or retracted at will, so that pulling and rerunning (so called round trips) of the drill string will not be necessary.